Adding uk.tech.digital-tv to the ngs posted and appending OP for that
ng's benefit ...
Public Health Warning: I know little about CCTV boxes specifically, and
you haven't told us the specific model number anyway, the following are
general comments about bespoke Linux boxes which may, or may not, be
useful ...
On 11/12/2023 09:55, Davey wrote:
>
> On Mon, 11 Dec 2023 09:23:42 +0000
>>
>> grinch <
gri...@somewhere.net> wrote:
>>
>> On 10/12/2023 16:03, Davey wrote:
>>>
>>> snip [JJ: but OP appended below]
>>>
>>>> I don't even know if it uses Windows or Linux, but the 'app' that
>>>> is supposed to let you interrogate it to find its MAC address is
>>>> Windows only. I already know the MAC address, and the rest of the
>>>> procedure that the 'app' is supposed to enable again assumes that
>>>> you have access to the menu, which I don't.
1) As others have suggested, this is almost certainly a bespoke Linux
or BSD OS, or possibly a derivative OS such as Android, I would guess
that the chances of it being anything else are pretty small.
>>> In the absence of any response to my post, I can at least add the
>>> information that it responds to a Cntrl/Alt/Del keyboard sequence,
>>> implying that it might use a Windows OS rather than Linux. All it
>>> does is Restart, though, so it is not of much help.
2) Linux also responds to <Ctrl-Alt-Delete>, though what happens in
response to it may vary.
>>> Again, any help much appreciated.
>>>
>> Port scan with nmap it can sometimes tell you what the OS is.
>>
>> Also as windows costs money and Linux does not its more likely to be
>> busybox but that's only a guess
+1
>
> nmap {Swann} gives me:
> PORT STATE SERVICE
> 85/tcp open mit-ml-dev
> 554/tcp open rtsp
> 9000/tcp open cslistener
>
> which means nothing to me! I find:
> a reference to ClearOS for the mit-ml-dev.
> rtsp seems to be part of the streaming process.
> cslistener sounds like a similar process.
>
> Any more help again welcome. But this is a good start, thanks.
> As you might gather, I am in, for me, uncharted waters here.
3) You make no mention of having a manual for it, do you have one? If
not have you tried to find one online?
4) Failing 3, or additionally to it, have you tried looking for a
useful YouTube video, or hardware specific social media group? You may
find that people at uk.tech.digital-tv may be able to help, as some of
them install pro CCTV systems, so I've added that ng to this reply.
5) Have you tried a factory defaults reset?
6) Can you log into it using a serial or ethernet connection using such
as putty and protocols such as telnet or ssh?
7) The curse of these small systems is often the PSU, and errant
behaviour such as you describe can be a symptom that it failing. Is it
yer bog-standard common-or-garden wall-wart, or POE? If the former, do
you have a similarly specced one for something else that you could try?
Or, if you have the kit, or know someone who has that you could borrow
to test it, does using POE improve matters?
8) Another example of capacitor rot? If you can open up the PSU, check
the caps for signs of bulging, etc, and if any are found, replace them.
> I have tried again several times to interrupt the boot, to no avail.
> And again, every attempt to engage the Menu box just shuts the box.
9) As you suggest, you can often interrupt the boot - common
keystrokes are: any, <Return>, <Esc> - but this usually involves some
sort of direct serial connection using a suitable interface such as a
TUMPA suitably connected to known points on the PCB, and the connections
may require soldering. The information required to be able to do this
might be found in a YouTube video, hardware specific social media group,
or similar.
=====
For the benefit of uk.tech.digital-tv, this was Davey's OP which was
snipped at the beginning of the subthread above:
On 09/12/2023 14:51, Davey wrote:
> I have a two or three year old Swann CCTV system, that lay in its box
> for over a year before I started to use it. All seemed well.
> There was a period where it was regularly shutdown by powering it off,
> which I know is not good. But it still comes back up when re-booted, to
> exactly the same display as when it was last shut down, which can now
> only be done by powering off.
> The problem is, that I cannot get into the Setup menu, which also
> allows an orderly shutdown. In theory, you move the cursor to the bottom
> left of the screen, a few icons pop up, and you click on the left-most
> icon, which brings up the box for entering ID and PW, etc. But it
> might take 5 or 6 attempts to get the box to be displayed, and when it
> is displayed, the first attempt to enter any character instantly shuts
> the box down, and I'm back to square 1.
> I have tried plugging in a keyboard and interrupting the boot, but I
> have not found the magic combination of keystroke(s) that will interrupt
> the boot process.
> I have tried Swann Technical support, which is useless even when I can
> finally get to discuss this with a human being, which is harder than
> extracting blood out of the proverbial stone. It drives you round in
> circles, never remembering anything of what was discussed two minutes
> ago. Not a good advert. for AI, more the opposite.
> Finally, Swann's chat-bot. responded today with the comment: "Your
> device is now too old, technical support is no longer available". I
> won't be buying any more of it from them, then.
> All I want to do is to, first, be able to interrupt the boot procedure,
> and second, go from there to at least see what I can see. I don't even
> know if it uses Windows or Linux, but the 'app' that is supposed to let
> you interrogate it to find its MAC address is Windows only. I already
> know the MAC address, and the rest of the procedure that the 'app' is
> supposed to enable again assumes that you have access to the menu,
> which I don't.
>
> Any help gratefully received.
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